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The Korean peninsula that we know of (the hermit kingdom of North Korea and the cyberpunk dystopia of South Korea) was partitioned against the will of the Koreans themselves.
Firstly, the Americans proposed to partition Korea (two Americans who had no diplomatic experience of Korea) to which the Soviets accepted (mainly for reason to establish imperialist bases rather than unify Korea). The People's Republic of Korea (not DPRK) was forcefully dissolved by the US military intervention in September 1945 (codenamed Operation Blacklist Forty) resulting in the US occupation of the southern part of Korea (south of the 38th parallel) for 3 years until Syngman Rhee was elected as first president of ROK (South Korea) upon the establishment of the country in 1948.
Secondly, the People's Committees which played a key role for the organizing of labor in the PRK were also forcefully dissolved. John R. Hodge once said "one of our missions was to break down this Communist government". The People's Committees were outlawed on December 12th, 1945. Strikes were outlawed four days prior but in 1946, a mass strike of 250,000 workers known as the Daegu uprising took place, resulting in the US military intervening and encouraging right-wing groups to shoot at the workers. US estimates claim that over 600 people died in the Autumn Uprising of 1946. The martial law and the continued presence of the US military from 1945 to 1948 weakened the role of Korean workers. This culminated in the Jeju uprising in April 1948 and a one-year war between the US military and the workers of Jeju who protested against the American gerrymandering of Korean elections. The US-backed South Korea brutally killed over 30,000 people between 1948 and 1949 in Jeju alone (10% of the population at the time).
Thirdly, the US in general was hostile to South Korea at first with the aim of suppressing leftist dissent and helped install Syngman Rhee who continued this suppression from 1948 to 1960. General Douglas MacArthur in his "Proclamation No.1" said that "All powers of Government over the territory of Korea south of 38 degrees north latitude and the people thereof will be for the present exercised under my authority.". Hodge also briefly kept the Japanese officials in charge of the affairs of South Korea until a major outcry forced him to change his mind and instead of leaving Koreans alone, he just proceeded with the American-dominated government. In a 1946 poll, over 70% of people in South Korea supported socialism over capitalism.
Lastly, South Korea has a lot of issues that came as a result of a right-wing, McCarthyist outlook. The repression of women as well as high suicide rates caused by brutal education due to the hardly-dying Confucian reactionary lifestyle and hierarchy which makes education in South Korea feel competitive rather than cooperative. Over 3 million graduates are without jobs due to limited job opportunities restricted by reactionary cultural values. There was once a case in 2021 where a South Korean teacher was purged for denouncing the sexual assault of women forced into prostitution under the Japanese colonial rule of Korea.
Still think that South Korea is the lesser evil over North Korea? Think again. One is a hermit kingdom and the other is a lifeless dystopia depriving youngsters in the name of "liberal progressivism".
Firstly, the Americans proposed to partition Korea (two Americans who had no diplomatic experience of Korea) to which the Soviets accepted (mainly for reason to establish imperialist bases rather than unify Korea). The People's Republic of Korea (not DPRK) was forcefully dissolved by the US military intervention in September 1945 (codenamed Operation Blacklist Forty) resulting in the US occupation of the southern part of Korea (south of the 38th parallel) for 3 years until Syngman Rhee was elected as first president of ROK (South Korea) upon the establishment of the country in 1948.
Secondly, the People's Committees which played a key role for the organizing of labor in the PRK were also forcefully dissolved. John R. Hodge once said "one of our missions was to break down this Communist government". The People's Committees were outlawed on December 12th, 1945. Strikes were outlawed four days prior but in 1946, a mass strike of 250,000 workers known as the Daegu uprising took place, resulting in the US military intervening and encouraging right-wing groups to shoot at the workers. US estimates claim that over 600 people died in the Autumn Uprising of 1946. The martial law and the continued presence of the US military from 1945 to 1948 weakened the role of Korean workers. This culminated in the Jeju uprising in April 1948 and a one-year war between the US military and the workers of Jeju who protested against the American gerrymandering of Korean elections. The US-backed South Korea brutally killed over 30,000 people between 1948 and 1949 in Jeju alone (10% of the population at the time).
Thirdly, the US in general was hostile to South Korea at first with the aim of suppressing leftist dissent and helped install Syngman Rhee who continued this suppression from 1948 to 1960. General Douglas MacArthur in his "Proclamation No.1" said that "All powers of Government over the territory of Korea south of 38 degrees north latitude and the people thereof will be for the present exercised under my authority.". Hodge also briefly kept the Japanese officials in charge of the affairs of South Korea until a major outcry forced him to change his mind and instead of leaving Koreans alone, he just proceeded with the American-dominated government. In a 1946 poll, over 70% of people in South Korea supported socialism over capitalism.
Lastly, South Korea has a lot of issues that came as a result of a right-wing, McCarthyist outlook. The repression of women as well as high suicide rates caused by brutal education due to the hardly-dying Confucian reactionary lifestyle and hierarchy which makes education in South Korea feel competitive rather than cooperative. Over 3 million graduates are without jobs due to limited job opportunities restricted by reactionary cultural values. There was once a case in 2021 where a South Korean teacher was purged for denouncing the sexual assault of women forced into prostitution under the Japanese colonial rule of Korea.
Still think that South Korea is the lesser evil over North Korea? Think again. One is a hermit kingdom and the other is a lifeless dystopia depriving youngsters in the name of "liberal progressivism".
